Animated toy container

ABSTRACT

The disclosure is directed to a small container formed in the likeness of a clown, Easter bunny or other animated toy. The head is formed from a polystyrene ball secured to felt pieces forming a collar cemented to the lid or cover of a small jar forming the container. The remainder of the jar is covered by a felt strip in the form of arms and hands holding an appropriate object at the front of the jar. The bottom of the jar is secured to the material conforming to the general outline of the jar and protruding in front to form feet of the character or animal portrayed. The animated toy container is first assembled in kit form before assembly in combination.

United States Patent [191 Godfrey et a].

1 ANIMATED TOY CONTAINER [76] lnventors: R. lra Godfrey; Janelle R.Godfrey,

both of 4501 Elmdale Rd., Golden Valley, Minn. 55422 22 Filed: Feb. 7,1973 21 Appl.No.:330,223

[52] US. Cl 46/11, 46/151, 46/22 [51] Int. Cl A63h 3/00 [58] Field ofSearch 46/11, 22, 151, 156

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,484,776 10/1949 Zent eta1. 46/11 X 2,532,729 12/1950 Millstein 46/11 2,760,305 8/1956 Hetrick46/11 X 3,660,926 5/1972 Lerner et al. 46/1 1 X Sept. 24, 1974 PrimaryExaminer-Louis G. Munccnc Assistant Examiner-Robert F. Cutting Attorney,Agent, or FirmSchroeder Siegfried Ryan & Vidas 5 7] ABSTRACT Thedisclosure is directed to a small container formed in the likeness of aclown, Easter bunny or other animated toy. The head is formed from apolystyrene ball secured to felt pieces forming a collar cemented to thelid or cover of a small jar forming the container. The remainder of thejar is covered by a felt strip in the form of arms and hands holding anappropriate object at the front of the jar. The bottom of the jar issecured to the material conforming to the general outline of the jar andprotruding in front to form feet of the character or animal portrayed.The animated toy container is first assembled in kit form beforeassembly in combination.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures ANIMATED TOY CONTAINER This invention relatesto the field of toys and small containers and particularly to ananimated toy container in the form of a clown or storybook character.

The present invention is of the type generally found in the craft fieldin that it may be offered in the form of a kit having all of the piecesfor assembly much the same as a puzzle, a set of Tinker Toys, a set ofLincoln Logs, etc. In other words, the kit may be formed into a usefulobject and in this case an animated toy container which may be filledwith candy, nuts, beads, or other appropriate small objects. Thecontainer may also be completely covered with the various pieces formingthe invention to provide a novel covering for the container which maythen be sold with the various objects contained therein. The inventionis directed to a novel means of covering the small jars to dress thecontainers and provide enjoyment and amusement for those who decide toassemble the toy container from kit form. The invention may be found invarious forms but all of the forms are directed to a means of using asmall jar which may be transparent oropaque in combination with thevarious covering elements to form the toy container.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide animproved animated toy container.

It is still another object of this invention to provide means fordressing a small jar forming the basic element of a toy container.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a plurality ofelements to be constructed and arranged in combination to form ananimated toy container.

It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a plurality ofelements first assembled in kit form before assembly in combinationforming an animated toy container.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will more fullyappear from the following description, made in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to thesame or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of of a modification of the structure shownin FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the various pieces and elements forming thestructure which may be assembled in kit form before final assembly.

As shown in the Figures, a small glass or plastic jar is used to containcertain items and forms the body ofthe animated toy container. A ribbon11 is cemented to the edge ofa lid or cover 12 ofjar 10. Any suitableglue or cement may be used. A plurality of sequins 13 are secured to thepoints on a collar 14 which is generally formed of two pieces of feltmaterial 15 and 16. The two collar members 15 and 16 are cemented to thetop of the lid or cover 12. The two collar members are formed ofstar-like configuration and the two collar members are glued together,alternating the points.

A fabric strip 17 in the shape of a pair of arms and a pair of hands 20and 21 formed at the ends thereof circumscribesjar l0 and is cemented tothe jar with the hands disposed at substantially the front centralportion of the jar. The hands 20 and 21 overlap the edge of a centralfelt piece 23. The hands 20 and 21 and the front piece 23 serve toeffectively obscure the front portion of the container.

A fabric piece 24 is formed in a tongue or orbicular shape so that theone portion conforms generally to the outline ofjar 10 with a protrusionto the front ofjar l0 simulating a pair of feet, which are furtherenhanced through the use of a pair of small pompons 25 and 26. Astiffening member 27 is cemented to piece 24 and the two in combinationbeing cemented to jar 10 form a relatively stiff base for the animatedtoy container.

The upper portion or head portion of the toy container is completedthrough the use of a styrofoam ball 30 which has the lower portionsomewhat flattened to produce a spheroidal member simulating a headwhich is also cemented to collar member 15. Head 30 is completed byadding a pair of sequins 31 and 32 forming the eyes and a pair of rightangle felt pieces 33 and 34 simulate the ears, with a diamond-shapedpiece of felt 35 forming the nose and a crescent-shaped piece 36 formingthe mouth.

The small clown shaped toy depicted in FIG. 1 is further completed byhaving a pointed hat 36 secured to spheroidal member 30 by cement. Hat36 is further decorated through the use of a plurality of smalldecorative members 37 such as miniature shaped hearts which are cementedto the front of hat 36 and the top ofthe pointed hat which is made inthe shape of a cone is topped off with a pompon 38 by cementing the sameto hat 36. In the particular embodiment shown, after the hat is formedfrom the wedge-shaped piece of material, the open end portion is rolledback to form a brim.

A modification of the embodiment found in FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 3where the animated toy container depicts a bunny rabbit such as anEaster bunny having a pair of ears 40 and 41 that are fixedly secured tohead 30. In place of member 23, a piece 42 in the outline of an Easteregg 42 is used and different facial designs and expression are createdthrough the use of different pieces forming the eyes, ears, and nose.

The invention may be created by first assembling the plurality of theelements in kit form such as shown in FIG. 4 before assembly incombination forming the animated toy container as just described. FIG. 4represents those members which may first be available in kit form.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in whichthe preferred containers are of barrel-like construction and by suchexpression it is intended to cover all suitable containers regardless oftheir shape such as boxes, jars, glasses, goblets, etc. While feltmaterial has been found to be preferred in forming a number of theelements, it may be desirable to use other pliable materials such asother woven fabrics and certain plastic materials which may be formedfrom sheets of the same It will, of course, be understood that variouschanges may be made in the form, details arrangement and proportions ofthe parts without departing from the scope of the invention whichconsists of the matter shown and described herein and set forth in theappended claims.

tending upwardly therefrom;

e. a pliable strip simulating arms and hands circumscribing saidbarrel-like container and fixedly secured thereto with the handsdisposed at substantially the front portion thereof;

f. a pliable piece simulating feet fixedly secured to the bottom of saidbarrel-like container;

g. and a stiff base member secured to the bottom of said pliable piecesimulating feet and generally conforming to the outline thereof.

v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Pate tit ,l f Inaiea p em 74 III 1a; G'bd f r'ey; Janelle R. Godfrey Inventor(s) 1 Itis certifid'tl'i-at error appears in the aboveide tified pate ritiandthat said Letter- -Pat r 1-t are hereby corrected as shown below:

I In dollimnl- 4 h afte .1"-'1 e'.' s e t- 'f-fiX wdlT- si'gfie d fidfeai a this-{19t ga November (S AL)- Attest: MQCOYIT. G ssfo'm=JR'.l;-'f? y c. MARSHALL DANN ,r Attesting Officer-f2] jl Commissioner ofPatents RM Po-1o so (10-59) 1,

. USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 A w. U.S, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I9690-366-334.

1. A plurality of elements constructed and arranged in combination toform an animated toy container comprising: a. a barrel-like containerhaving a cover releasably secured thereto; b. a pliable collar fixedlysecured to the tOp of said cover and extending in ruffled array c. aspheroidal member simulating a head formed of a low density materialfixedly secured to said collar at a central upper portion thereof; d. atleast one appendage fixedly secured to the upper portion of saidspheroidal member and extending upwardly therefrom; e. a pliable stripsimulating arms and hands circumscribing said barrel-like container andfixedly secured thereto with the hands disposed at substantially thefront portion thereof; f. a pliable piece simulating feet fixedlysecured to the bottom of said barrel-like container; g. and a stiff basemember secured to the bottom of said pliable piece simulating feet andgenerally conforming to the outline thereof.